Ben Willis by Ben
Brixton maker
I make high quality chairs and seating installations out of native English hardwoods, using time-honoured techniques. My chairs are based on traditional patterns used in Windsor and ladder-back, or 'post and rung' chairs. I primarily use hand tools such as the axe, adze and drawknife, and primitive devices such as the pole-lathe and shave horse.
These methods predate the age of mass-production, but have stood the test of time and allow the intrinsic beauty of the natural material to shine through.
I help run school and community-based woodcraft workshops both independently and for Bristol-based Touch Wood Enterprises.